Change of Heart
by Angel of Apricots
Summary: AU. Garuru, Giroro, Pururu, Keroro, and Zoruru are police officers assigned to apprehend Captain Jirara and the X1. Besides this mission, the five of them are looking for an old friend named Zeroro, who is an assassin that was sold off to another criminal. On the other hand, Kururu is Keronian's worst nightmare in the form of a hacker, with a trusty servant named Dororo.
1. Prologue

It was time for rest at Planet Keron. The planet's sun had set and the sky was dark, the only thing decorating the dark sky were the planet's naturally star-shaped clouds that only disappeared during heavy rains. Tadpoles had stopped playing in the playground to go back home and take their well-deserved rest and prepare for military elementary school. Despite the absence of Keronians of the streets of Keron and the only source of light coming from the lampposts and the nightlights coming from the tadpoles' rooms, a dark figure's shadow had been casually walking in the dark of the night.

Or at least, it had been walking casually.

This Keronian possessed a brown robe with the hood down, exposing their face to the world. He was a white Keronian with marks that resembled blue and purple flames. He only had one eye, and it didn't even look like an eye at all; it was just a glowing purple circle with a cross pattern. As he walked through the empty streets of Keron with his robe stained with a red liquid, he felt someone a few inches far from him, but their shadows.. their shadows carried a strong presence. Without hesitation or fear, he took more steps forward and came face to face with a group of five. "You are.."

"Put your hands up. Don't make any sudden movements, or I'll shoot you into oblivion. We're members of the Space Police Department and anything you say will probably be used against you in court." The one in the middle ordered. He was a purple Keronian with pointy yellow goggles that hid the true color of his eyes. Aside from the sniper rifle he was currently pointing at him, he also possessed a pin on the side of his hat that signified he wasn't lying about being an officer. Behind him were four other Keronians that possessed the same pin that were pinned on the flaps of their hats. One was red with dead-serious black eyes and a scar, one was green with a rather generic face that was nothing to note about, one didn't even seem to be Keronian and was more of a robot with his one glowing red eye and the bandages that covered his mouth, and the last one was purple and seemed more of a nurse than an officer. "Assassin Kagege from the criminal assassin group known as X1, you are under arrest. You and X1 have committed countless murders throughout Keron. We will put an end to your misery now, so come along."

Kagege humphed, then removed his robe and let it drop to the floor. His purple scarf seemed to stay in midair and not sway from the night breeze. Kagege took a few steps back, a dangerous aura radiating from him. "Keh. I'm not going with you lot without a fight, _Officer Garuru_." With a few gestures using his hands, the lights of the lampposts seemed to have brightened. "Assassin Super Magic! Shadow Cloning!"

The shadows of the officers suddenly went darker. Darker, yet darker. Garuru prepared his sniper rifle and pointed it to behind him. His shadow had manifested into a much more physical form, though it was nothing more than a black figure with a glowing purple aura. The red one took two guns out of nowhere and had made a fighting stance, back to back with Garuru. The robotic one made a twitching motion with his robotic hand, causing a blade to come out. The green one fumbled with his laser sword for a moment, before he finally managed to grip it correctly. The only female Keronian in their group prepared a large syringe with a ball on the tip, preparing it as if it were a canon. "Officers Keroro and Pururu! You team up and handle your own shadows! Giroro and I will handle ours, plus Officer Zoruru's! Zoruru, you go apprehend Kagege!"

"With pleasure." Zoruru growled, using his abilities to somehow teleport in front of Kagege. "Has been awhile, eh Kagege? You _bastard_."

Kagege seemed surprised. "Zo-Zoruru?! Impossible! We made sure you were-!"

"Dead? Hah! Half of me is dead, don't worry. Look at what your captain did to me. I'm a freak of nature. Half-Keronian," Zoruru's arm was twitching, and it looked like he was steaming out of anger. "Half-killing machine. And since you and X1 seemed to have so much fun pretending Zeroro or I didn't exist, I decided to use my abilities as an ex-assassin for something that actually helps Keron. And give up doing something illegal. Now," His voice became a bit distorted as he approached Kagege with an intimidating voice. **"WheRe iS ZeROrO?!"**

"As if I would tell you, you _traitor_." Kagege summoned black knives out of nowhere. "You and Zeroro both left the hideout without any warning. You went against our morals as assassins and were about to go back to your lives as pitiful Keronians who pathetically dream of joining the military and invading stupid planets. I thought Captain Jirara's deathblow would have been enough to take care of you both. Guess I was wrong." More knives appeared from behind him. "With half of your body being contorted like that, you were as good as dead."

 **"Bastard!"** Zoruru roared, lunging at him.

While Zoruru and Kagege were battling each other, Giroro and Garuru both used their weapons to shoot at three shadows all at once. Keroro had tried to guard himself against his own shadow, who was jabbing his sword at him wildly and trying to stab him. "Gerooooo!" He cried, landing on his butt and his sword sliding out of his reach.

Pururu appeared just in time. She blocked the shadow Keroro's sword with her syringe, then tried to stab him with it. To her surprise, it went inside the shadow, almost like she dipped the tip of the syringe in a deep black liquid. "W-What is this?!" She then grabbed Keroro's head and jumped away from the shadow. "Officer Garuru! Attacking them seems to be futile!" Quickly, she turned a knob on her syringe then quickly pressed it against Keroro's butt, causing the other to wail. "It's in medicine mode, Keroro-kun! Hold still!"

"Garuru!" Giroro lowered his gun, and his older brother did the same. "The shadows just absorb the bullets. Tch. Besides being a waste of bullets, they can hit us, but we can't hit them. This is an unfair fight."

"Damn.." Garuru cursed. "How are we gonna get rid of them then?"

"They're shadows! Shadows need light to exist!" Zoruru roared, as he flailed his robotic arm to block the knives Kagege was throwing at him. "Just get rid of the damn lights and they'll vanish!"

Aiming their guns at the lampposts, Giroro and Garuru mentally apologized for the amount of property they would be destroying. Pururu turned the knob of her syringe and removed the ball on the tip, revealing a sharp needle underneath that started twirling like a drill. Keroro picked up his laser sword and clicked on the button underneath, quickly turning the sword into an axe. As Zoruru fought with Kagege and the shadows tried to bother the four officers, Giroro and Garuru shot the lampposts' light bulbs, while both Pururu and Keroro broke the lampposts by drilling and chopping it down.

The only source of light now came from the moon, but it still wasn't bright enough for shadows to be seen. As the shadows disappeared into the darkness, Zoruru grabbed Kagege by his scarf and pinned him to the ground with his foot. "That's enough from you!" He then grabbed Kagege by his ear flaps, pulling him upwards and nearly slashed his neck with the blade of his arm. "Now, where is Zeroro?! Hurry and talk before I kill you!"

"Good work everyone. Zoruru, don't kill him. We need him." Sighed Garuru in relief. "I didn't think apprehending one of those X1 goons would be easy at all. Doing it in the morning would have been tougher, with people around and this one needing some light to attack us." He pressed the pin that was on one of his ear flaps. "Officer Garuru speaking. We have caught a member of X1, Kagege. We are currently at the park. Oh yes, would you tell Sir Doruru that the lampposts in this area are either broken or non-functional? You see, Kagege utilizes in shadows, and he used our shadows against us. We needed to get rid of the light surrounding us in order to defeat our shadows. Huh? ..Understood. We will make a letter of apology regarding destruction of park property."

"I'm so glad! Now that we have him, it'll be much easier to learn about X1!" Pururu chirped, putting the ball back on the tip of her needle and turning the knob in medicine mode. Giroro scoffed and put his arms behind his back, as Keroro switched off his laser weapon. Pururu heaved the syringe on her shoulder. "Oh yeah.. Keroro-kun, you were in charge of carrying the handcuffs, right?"

"Zoruru can't hold him like that forever, otherwise, Kagege would end up dead before we even get him to the station." Giroro added. His guns disappeared into some sort of energy wave, which didn't seem to bother him at all.

Their response was Keroro awkwardly rubbing his head while chuckling nervously. "Handcuffs? Ohhhh, you mean handcuffs meant to ensure criminals wouldn't do any funny business while we contact the station? Handcuffs that every good police officer should carry around to apprehend criminals? Ah, well, you see.. about that-"

"You didn't bring the handcuffs, did you?!" Pururu and Giroro both yelled in anger. Garuru sighed again, but this time, it wasn't out of relief. It was out of annoyance. "Idiot!" Giroro barked. "Argh! Tch! We're lucky Poyon and Poyan are helping us with this case! They probably have the handcuffs-"

"I see this is where you have been, Zoruru."

The five Keronian officers looked up. Kagege had vanished without a trace, almost as if he blended in the night. Zoruru was about to react to Kagege's sudden disappearance, when a certain Keronian had made himself visible. He was a navy blue and pale purple Keronian that had three red dots for eyes. Like Kagege, he was possessing a robe, except his wasn't soaked in blood. "Assassin Kagege has done his mission for today. To fight you all would not be part of his mission and would be a waste of our time. Hence why he has now decided to end this pathetic excuse for a battle by vanishing into darkness." He calmly explained. "But you're alive? And with a robotic body? Interesting.. perhaps you could be an assassin once again."

"As if, Jirara!" Zoruru growled, being restrained by Pururu and Giroro from tearing off Jirara's face. "You're a heartless monster! You killed my parents! You killed Zeroro's father! You hid that fact from us until you lured us into your trap to becoming killing machines! You threatened to kill our friends if we didn't join your assassin group!" He started thrashing. "Pururu! Giroro! Let me go!"

"So.. you're Captain Jirara, leader of the evil assassin group, X1?" Garuru commented. "Interesting. Meeting the man himself when all we wanted was to apprehend one of your subordinates."

"Heh. You officers think Kagege is stupid enough to wander through the streets in the dead of the night? You lot are so gullible." Jirara scoffed. "Almost as naive as Zeroro-"

"What have you done to him?!"

The ones who yelled that were none other than Zoruru, Giroro, Keroro, and Pururu. Garuru closed his eyes, remembering who they were referring to. Zeroro. He was the eldest child of the richest family in Keron, as well as the son of the best medic in Keron. If Garuru remembered correctly, Zeroro was a frail and painfully shy child who Keroro and Giroro befriended, as well as Pururu. Besides that, he was a close friend of Zoruru. Garuru aimed his sniper rifle at Jirara, ignoring the voice in his head that was also bombarding him with questions regarding the whereabouts of his little brother's friend. "Captain Jirara. I doubt you made yourself known just to save your subordinate and had a friendly chat."

"You're curious too." Jirara pointed out. Garuru didn't reply, which Jirara considered a victory. "Kagege could have escaped himself. But Zeroro? Hm, Zeroro, huh? That blue assassin that tried to fled with Zoruru? Heh. I can see Zoruru was successful enough to escape, even if it did cause him half his body." He could see Zoruru's only eye glow with anger, and both Pururu and Giroro were struggling to keep him still. Keroro, that green one that seemed to have made himself look like a blundering idiot earlier, had managed to made a determined expression. "Zeroro's not in the assassin group anymore, I can assure you. However." He crossed his arms. "How do I put it simply? Oh. We sold him."

At that, Keroro blinked. Zoruru stopped struggling, Giroro and Pururu both loosened their grip on Zoruru out of confusion at Jirara's statement, and Garuru lowered his weapon in the same state of shock. "G-Gero? Sold.. Zeroro?" He muttered. "Captain Jirara! What do you mean by that?!" He demanded. "You can't possibly sell him like he's an object, yessir! That's just.. not normal!"

"So? We sold him. For money. To other criminals like us." Jirara stated, almost in a mocking tone. "Zeroro was of no use to X1 anymore, after we all thought Zoruru had died. His heart was so weak, he would grow attached to nearly everything he came across on, even if it was just a mere flower. Zoruru was his childhood friend. We thought we could change that.. but we were wrong. Zoruru and Zeroro fled from us. And no one, and I mean _no one_ , betrays X1 and leaves alive. Unfortunately, both Zeroro and Zoruru did. However." He raised a finger. "We had brainwashed Zeroro once we caught him. The brainwashing process did not go smoothly, and even if Zeroro forgot about everything in his life, he feels the trauma. Since he can't be of any use in his traumatic state, a subordinate suggested we sell him to people who want an assassin. They have to snap him out of the trauma mode themselves, though."

"You.. you sold.. Zeroro? For.. for money..?" Sputtered Giroro in disbelief. Anger then started to appear in his eyes, then he took out his gun again. "You.. you bastard! Not only do you kill people.. but you sell Keronians to other species too?!"

"Heh. Not necessarily other species. The person we sold Zeroro off to was another Keronian. It was a yellow one with weird eyes, and I'm sure he's also a well-known criminal. And this was the first time we ever did such a thing. But considering Zoruru over there caused trouble for us.. the money we got from selling Zeroro was enough to re-locate and build another base, as well as get better equipment to ensure nobody does the same stupid thing as Zoruru and Zeroro. Maybe mutilating a Keronian into a robot like Zoruru would be a good idea."

"That's going against the law even further!" Pururu cried. "Murdering, threatening, sending people to do your dirty work.. and selling people?! That's Keronian Trafficking!" She pointed her syringe at Jirara, then the ball on the tip bounced off as she turned the knob to drill mode. The needle started whirring and she and Giroro inched closer to Jirara with their weapons on hand. "You're horrible!"

Garuru and Keroro were still in a state of shock. However, Zoruru was angrier than Giroro and Pururu combined. Drawing the blade from his arm, he stood in a running position, before his red eye glowed brighter. **"I'LL SEND YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL!"** He roared, running to Jirara with his blade. With a growl, he drew his arm backwards, before lunging it at where Jirara's neck should be, Jirara dissolved into thin air. "W-what?!" Zoruru tripped on his foot and landed on his face, as the blade on his arm drew itself back. "Another clone?!" His scream was muffled. _"Damn that Jirara! He knew that once he told us how much of an asshole he is, we'd try to kill him!"_

"A-Another clone, you say?!" Keroro stuttered. He shook his head then ran to Zoruru. "Zoruru! Are you okay?!" He asked the half-robot Keronian, helping him up to his feet. Garuru was still in shock, so he hadn't moved from his position. He did lower his gun as soon as Jirara disappeared though. Giroro angrily dropped his gun and started punching a nearby tree. Pururu dropped her syringe and collapsed on the ground with her legs in a "w" position, her eyes trembling. "It can't be.. no way.. we.. we got this far.. we found a member of X1.. and met their leader.. but Zeroro-kun..?" Brainwashed. Traumatized. Sold. That.. her childhood friend.. little Zeroro had been treated like that by Jirara! "Zeroro-kun!" She wailed for her childhood friend, tears brimming from her eyes. It wasn't long before she started sobbing.

Minutes passed, other members of the Space Police arrived at the scene. Pururu had been calmed down by Keroro who had reminded her that they were officers and shouldn't immediately break down, while Garuru explained the situation and the unfortunate escape of Kagege and the clone of Jirara. Zoruru still stood in the same position where Jirara's clone was earlier, but his eye wasn't displaying the red light. It was dark and empty, repressing his urges to find X1 himself and destroy it. _"I must stay calm. I became an officer in order to let go of my past as a short-time assassin. If we want to find Zeroro, we mustn't drop as low as Jirara as to kill others. Heh.. sounds like something Zeroro would say."_ Zeroro was always too nice to be an assassin.. but like Zoruru, he became one anyway, just for the sake of his friends.

Suddenly, a lightbulb had appeared on the top of his head. His eye once again glowed it's red light, and he found himself running after his comrades. Keroro had been asked by Garuru to bye drinks at the nearby vending machine after a hectic night, while the other officers investigated the bloodied robe that Kagege left behind. Zoruru ran to Pururu sitting on a bench, who was wearing her fluffy jacket that she bought in case of cold weather. Giroro leaned against the same tree he punched, eyes close and seemingly in thought. Garuru was just standing on the bench aside Pururu, also thinking of the earlier events. Upon the sight of Zoruru running towards them, Pururu stood up from the bench. "Are you okay, Zoruru-kun? I mean, you're probably affected by this as well, meeting your old.. partners and all."

"They're not my partners anymore." Reminded Zoruru, turning to face Garuru. "Garuru sir! What Jirara said earlier about selling Zeroro off to a fellow criminal.."

"What about it?" Garuru tilted his head.

"Yellow. Weird Eyes. Also a Keronian. Do you think.." He panted heavily from running. "Do you think there could be files about that Keronian?! Maybe if we could find him, we could find Zeroro!"

"As much as I'd love to.." Garuru sighed in what seemed to be disappointment. Pururu and Giroro looked up at him hopefully. "I'm not.. I'm not saying that Zeroro isn't important. He is, I know, I've known you three ever since my kid brother met you all. However.." He rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "We.. we need to get the higher ups to approve on that. The case we were assigned to is about reprimanding Captain Jirara and the X1, the most dangerous and the strongest assassin group in Keron. It's a dangerous mission and I'm sure that Captain Jirara isn't stupid enough to have just wandered through here to tell us what he did to Zeroro. Don't you think it's like a trap?"

"What, like he's trying to remind us that Zeroro is still missing and he wants us to focus on Zeroro instead of the mission as some sort of distraction?" Giroro asked.

As the three of them feared, Garuru nodded solemnly. "And the higher ups.. they probably won't allow our personal relations with Zeroro to matter in this case. They rarely agree to any sort of request made by officers. And when they do, it's short-lived." Garuru muttered. "But Captain Jirara couldn't be making this up. If X1 got rid of Zeroro and used the excuse that they sold him to a random criminal, and then-"

"Shut up!" Zoruru suddenly snapped. "I don't care if that Jirara bastard made it up! And if Zeroro was dead, Kagege would have spit it out! That shadow freak is terrible at lying! If his intent was to make sure that I won't be able to focus on this mission because of dead-worry for my friend, well he sure as hell succeeded!"

"Zoruru-" Pururu tried to calm the other down, but Zoruru's voice went distorted again.

 **"He'S nOT deAD! I'LL asK thE hiGHeR uPs mySeLF iF i haVe tO!** " Growled Zoruru, before walking off.

Garuru sighed and sat on the same bench Pururu sat in earlier. Pururu and Giroro glanced at the oldest Keronian in their group with worry. They knew Garuru was worried too, but he made a point. He couldn't just make a request and expect the superiors to approve of it. Feelings are not meant to get in the way of a mission, which applies to any job a Keronian has; as a doctor, a soldier, an officer, and to an extreme extent, an assassin. Keroro appeared in their sight a minute later, holding cans of iced drinks. But seeing the others looked so tired, with Zoruru out of sight, he tilted his head. "G-Gero? Did something happen again?"


	2. Chapter 1

Kururu was a Keronian that barely took shit from anyone. He used to ignore the hurtful words and insults hurled at him and his intelligence. Brushing it off wasn't too much of a chore. But when Kururu became one of Keron's most wanted criminals, he started to become much more insane, narcissistic, and use his intelligence for something more entertaining. With this type of intelligence, people always said he would make a good doctor or engineer. But for the good of the people? Hah! Never! Not after how they treated him. Kururu was intimidating, sure, but not as intimidating compared to the other criminals in Keron or in the entire universe. He was just a yellow Keronian with headphones and odd, spiral glasses. But besides that general creepiness he naturally had, he was a born genius. Ever since he was a baby, he could create artificial black and white holes. He could make a liquid that can turn anything into a weapon. He could even make candies that could turn you as small as an ant, and make an antidote for it with the delicious taste of curry.

He could fight back too. His main weapon of choice were his headphones that were an essential to every criminal ever, but only Kururu had it because he was the one that created them. It could make sound waves loud enough to shatter glass, waves that could erase one's memory, and soothing waves used to calm a poor soul and cause them to drift to sleep. It was easier to kill your victims when they're asleep after all.

Ohoho, but every criminal needed a subordinate or two. First off was a childhood rival of his, that eventually started to help him in his crimes. A salmon-colored tadpole named Tororo who possessed the same odd glasses as him. Sure the brat was annoying, but Kururu thought of the little guy as that annoying little brother that wasn't really biologically related to him. Then there was a close friend of Tororo, a sky-blue colored Keronian named Taruru. Recently, Taruru had lost his white face and tail, but still acted like a child nonetheless. He could fire laser beams from his eyes too. Next was another brat named Tamama, still a tadpole like Tororo. But he was actually older than Taruru, who had hit puberty before him. Like Taruru, Tamama could fire laser beams, but from his mouth. Interestingly enough, the lasers Tamama spat out usually became stronger if Tamama felt negatively about his enemies.

Besides the bratty "Tadople Trio with T Names", which Kururu referred his three subordinates as, he also had a personal "servant" himself. A servant that could act as a bodyguard and shield him from harm's way. A loyal servant that constantly fussed on the health of the three younger members. As far as Kururu was concerned, this servant of his was a few years older, but.. incredibly naive and innocent, compared to those three. Unlike Tororo, he had morals. Unlike Taruru, he wasn't a prideful and reckless brat. Unlike Tamama, he didn't have powers that became stronger the angrier he was with someone. But he was a strong one, and why he was sold off to him for being a "worthless" person, he had no idea.

When he found him, he was in a cage. One of Keron's biggest criminals had spotted him with the Tadpole Trio, and would have ended his life if they didn't recognize Kururu as Keron's biggest nightmare in the form of a hacker. He hacked banks, hospitals, and any technology Keron had in one fell swoop. But the other group, the well-known and feared assassin group known as X1 had informed him of how useless the Keronian on the cage was. He was once a skilled assassin with only one flaw that could hinder his abilities; he cared too much. And when a fellow assassin who turned out to be his childhood friend was said to be dead, it had impacted the other greatly to the point they had to brainwash him to keep him as their assassin, their pawn. But the brainwashing only forced him to forget his memories. His brain must have decided to be a smart-ass, because he could feel the trauma, but not remember it.

He had met Captain Jirara, the leader of X1. When Jirara demanded that he should leave the hideout he had accidentally wandered into, he surprised everyone, including his own subordinates, by claiming that he wanted to buy the ex-assassin in the cage. Before they could say anything else, he had offered a high amount of money in exchange for the other. They accepted, considering X1 had lost two assassins and half their hideout was probably blown to smithereens. Jirara had told him about the blue Keronian in the cage, claiming that he had to find a way to un-traumatize him themselves.

Hah. Did they really think Kururu was stupid? After taking him home by having Taruru carry the blue Keronian in his back and placing him on the couch Tamama and Taruru usually jumped on, he activated one of the functions of his headphones. It had seemingly calmed the other by a bit and after a few more hours with Tamama constantly bringing in green tea, Taruru playing loud upbeat music, and Tororo checking on the other's mental condition, they have done it. They undid his traumatic state, but his amnesiac state still remained.

Considering Jirara didn't even bother to tell him the name of the poor thing he bought using the money he stole from the Keronian International Bank, he decided to name him himself. He took name suggestions from the three brats, but most of it was rejected. Scratch that, all names were rejected. Siruru, Mukoko, Rabibi, Kogogo, Nasusu, Fuyuyu, Akiki, Mokaka, Sabubu, Mususu, Koyuyu, Yosisi, Paruru, Bayoyo.. all of them didn't fit the silent Keronian that was properly seating on the couch with a gentle expression.

In the end, Dororo was what they named him. Noticing how Dororo was covering his mouth as soon as he went into a much more sane state, Tororo suggested getting him a mask or something to cover his mouth with. They used a gray cloth, considering they didn't have any medical masks. Besides that, Taruru had suggested that Dororo should get a new cap or headgear, since his floppy-eared white hat was torn. In the end, they got him a white cap with shrouds, possessing the same shuriken pin as his original cap.

Considering it took them hours up 'til night to get Dororo out of that state, the tadpole trio had rushed off to bed in exhaustion as soon as Dororo was named, leaving Kururu with the other Keronian. After explaining who he was (and lying about being the good guy), who the other three were, and lying about finding him in a ditch somewhere, Dororo had been following him around the hideout like a lost puppy. At first, Kururu disliked that fact, but seeing Dororo do simple tasks without hesitation, use his strength for Kururu because he believed Kururu was in the right.. well, having a personal servant didn't seem so bad of a choice. Maybe spending so much on this one wasn't a mistake.

It's like buying a broken, yet rare and expensive doll. Most people would disregard it just because it was broken, but forget about the fact that it was still rare. With a few tweaks and adjustments, the doll was as good as new. Kururu smirked at the memory, thinking of how idiotic X1 was for simply trading Dororo for a buttload of cash they simply stole from the bank. He would use Dororo to take over the Keron Army's current planet of interest, Pekopon, and become the best invader in the galaxy. Who needed to be in the Keron Army to invade, when all he could do was simply use a powerful pawn? But only after he's done conquering Keron and taking revenge for those who humiliated him.. that was when he and his troop planned to invade Pekopon.

* * *

"Sir!" Taruru burst in Kururu's office. Kururu's office wasn't anything special. It had a desk that was displayed near the window, a couch that was cleaner in comparison to the couch in the living room, a TV, a mini fridge, a kotatsu table on the corner, and a bulletin board that had multiple pictures of random Keronians or space creatures that Kururu and his troop had eliminated. On the couch was Dororo, sitting and watching a cartoon with Tamama in silence, as Tamama chatted about how cool the cartoon was, and Tororo was on the kotatsu table with three laptops in front of him. Kururu was sitting on his desk, simply watching his subordinates do their thing. That was, until Taruru burst in with the newspapers for the day. "It seems X1's very own Kagege has nearly been apprehended by the Space Police!"

"Eh? Makes sense, since assassins are just a group of pansies and idiots running around and killing people in broad daylight. And when they do it at night, they suck even more." Tororo commented with an annoyed expression, reaching out for the mini fridge and pulling out a box of cold pizza, opening it and taking a slice. "Tch. He got away?"

"Yup! The officers state that he disappeared as soon as a clone of Captain Jirara appeared. When one of them was about to attack the captain, he just vanished without a trace! Apparently, it's some sort of assassin cloning technique." Taruru waved around the newspapers. "Officer Garuru and his squad had to take down the lampposts at the local park, because Kagege uses shadows to attack people. I guess it's gonna be a warning to always bring a flashlight wherever you go, since lampposts are considered dangerous at this point."

Tamama sighed, turning off the TV and handing his bowl of popcorn to Dororo, who watched the scene occur. He took the newspapers from Taruru, and began to read them aloud. "X1 Assassin Kagege murdered the owner of the Uma-Uma Candy Factory, Umama. His body was located outside the storage where the Uma-Uma candies were hidden.. ehh? The assassin left his robe at the park when he faced off with Officer Garuru?! That's stupid!" He commented, reaching out for a lollipop that was on the top of the mini fridge, as well as other candies. "The assassins are getting restless lately, huh?"

Kururu stood up from his seat, walking over to where his troop was. "The previous incident regarding X1 could have exposed them.. but they at least had the brains to relocate their hideout somewhere else, kukuku. Wonder where they got all the money though, kukuku!~" Glancing at Dororo, who was still holding Tamama's bowl of popcorn, he smirked. "Hey, Dororo. Do the names Kagege and Jirara sound familiar to you?"

Dororo shook his head. "N-no, Kururu-dono." He answered meekly and in a soft voice. It was nice to have someone quiet around in their hideout. Tamama and Taruru were too loud, and Tororo was just straight-up obnoxious. Dororo was pretty odd, but helpful nonetheless. "S-Should I know him? Is he affliated with me in any way?"

"Nope. Just wanting to see if something will jog that head of your's. Who knows, the local garbageman could be your dad's brother's cousin's classmate's sister's childhood friend's associate." Kururu replied dismissively, grabbing the papers from Tamama and folding them, before throwing them in his trash bin. _"The brainwashing technique that the assassins used on him is really neat.. with Dororo not remembering anything at all. Though the flaw of the brainwashing technique is that it cannot undo any mental and emotional damage. Keh. If only they had my headphones at the time.. they could still have this little assassin right here."_ Kururu thought. "Well, nothing interesting much. It would be nice if X1 just got captured already. They're causing too much problems for Keron."

The three of his subordinates nodded. If Jirara and the X1 were still a threat, then they'd have problems taking over Keron. Also, hiding this fact from Dororo was also an issue. Kururu and the tadpole trio had thought it would be a better idea if they sent out Dororo on little chores or get him busy when they're doing work. With that, Dororo couldn't possibly figure out they were criminals. If he was a previous assassin that was brainwashed.. he had a high chance of being a goody-goody. Money couldn't go to waste like that. _"X1 may have sold us Dorobune.. but they escorted us out of the hideout.. and vanished. Almost like they don't want us there. Hmph. They could have just been after the money. I mean, their base was a wreck and they obviously needed to relocate if they didn't want to get caught."_ Tamama thought, unwrapping the lollipop and taking a bite out of it.

"Well!" Kururu suddenly raised the volume of his voice. "Dororo. Could you go to the market and buy some curry powder?" Kururu asked. He had an idea, but as usual, it required getting Dororo out of the house. Tamama and Taruru both thought it was a bad idea to let Dororo out in public, considering Dororo was an ex-assassin that forgot he used to be one. But after a few weeks, Dororo had been in charge of getting groceries or to shop for anything in Taruru's place. As far as Dororo was concerned, Kururu was just a computer fanatic that lived in this pretty decent looking one-story house that was located deep in the allies of the Keron City. Tororo taught him how to find his way in and out, and always told him to make sure no one was going to follow him if he was going to go back in the house. He lived blissfully unaware of his past as an ex-assassin that had been brainwashed, and was also unaware of the fact that he was basically the servant of Keronian's best hacker.

Deciding to play along, Tamama went into his cute little facade and jumped over to Dororo. Dororo had set the bowl of popcorn on the kotatsu, as Tororo started grabbing at it and eating it. "Dorobune! Can you also get me some sweets? Chocolates and lollipops, please!"

"Oh! I want some of those comic books near the cashiers! You know.. Captain Geroro!" Taruru chirped. Kururu, Tororo, and Tamama didn't know if he was just playing along, or he actually wanted those comic books. Either way, Taruru was helping.

"A large bottle of soda and a large bag of potato chips. As in, bigger than me." Tororo added, still busy with his work on the three laptops. "You know what flavor. Ignore people who're gonna judge you for buying large-sized junk food. They're jerks."

Dororo nodded, as Kururu, Tamama, and Taruru handed him the money. Tororo handed his money over to Taruru, who handed it over to Dororo. Noticing that Kururu added some extra cash, he looked at the yellow Keronian in confusion. "Kururu-dono? I think I have just enough to buy what you all requested.." He pointed out.

"Oh? That? Well.." Kururu shrugged. "You've been helping us for awhile. Go help yourself and waste that money on anything you want. Kukuku. Snacks, a toy, I don't care. Just treat yourself to anything."

Though hesitant, Dororo seemed to have smiled under his mask. "A-Ah.. I see.. thank you so much for your generosity, Kururu-dono!" He said, before rushing off. The four of them watched the blue Keronian leave the house and gently shut the door to do his little task. He did tasks without complaints.. and became grateful for little acts of kindness. Clearly, Dororo was too kind to be an assassin.

With the blue Keronian out of the way for a few minutes, Kururu took the newspaper back from the trash bin, unfolding it. "I just remembered that X1 said that they used a brainwashing technique on Dororo before we bought him. Kukuku. Clearly, their brainwashing technique had flaws in it. It took us hours to snap Dororo out of that pathetic state he was in." Kururu chuckled. "X1 assassins are skilled, and the first time we got in there, we were lucky to have lived. Just as long as we don't tell anybody about their whereabouts.. tch. With the money we gave them, they already relocated and got themselves better equipment to protect themselves with."

"And even after we offered them a high amount of money for Dororo, they still teleported us out of there. Tch. Obviously, we're not associates. They just gave us Dororo and straight up left us there. Arrogant assholes. They'll regret not offering to help us." Tororo cursed as he typed on one laptop furiously. "The brainwashing technique is what you're looking for, right old man?"

"Yeah." Kururu replied. "It sounds useful. To brainwash others would clearly help us in our mission. Look at what it did to Dororo. He doesn't even remember being an assassin. But he still has his strength. There are only four of us working on this, and we clearly need more people to help us in this. Keronian or not, if we have the secret of the brainwashing technique, we'll be able to control even the strongest of creatures. Kukuku.."

"Kururu-senpai!" Tamama suddenly interrupted. "There are actually _five_ of us! You, me, Taruru, Tororo, and Dorobune!"

Before Kururu could correct him, Taruru cut him off, as loud as ever. "Tamama-senpai, Kururu-san said that even if Dororo is really strong, he doesn't count! As strong as Dororo is, he's.. well.. too nice!"

"And has a possibility of leaving us if he finds out we're criminals. He has a pretty solid set of morals and I doubt he'd be the type of guy to let them go easily for a bunch of crooks who bought him from one of Keron's biggest criminals and murderers." Tororo added boredly. "Plus, the old man himself said that Dororo is his personal assistant. Dororo agreed to it. So basically, Dororo's job is the old man's job. He doesn't count, because he's only assisting us." Tororo took out a bite of the cold pizza slice, aggressively chewing. "Tch! This may take awhile. Brainwashing techniques are freakin' _ancient_."

"Oh? Then I'll look into stuff regarding the assassins then. If it's an old method, then I wonder how they found it.. wonder if it's painful too." Kururu said, walking out of his office. "Tamama, Taruru. Both of you go out and monitor Dororo. Whenever something that looks weird happens, pretend that you went out looking for him because you were worried and get him out of there. We don't know if there are any Keronians in this area that know him."

"And you didn't listen to us when we said it could be dangerous if he goes out!" Both Tamama and Taruru cried in irritation. The two of them listened to the order anyway, and ran out of the door.

Tororo was the only one left in the office. Stuffing his face with pizza, he continued to messily type in the keyboard with irritation.


End file.
